Saturday, February 25, 2012

Call me Rocky and welcome to my blog. Storytelling is my passion and has been since childhood, when I heard my great-grandfather on my mother's side trying to convince folks that he'd come over on the Mayflower.

My hope is to connect with your love of stories. When I post something, and all of my postings will be story related, I would love your input either by commenting on the story I present, or by offering one for me to consider. I'm middle-aged, but haven't read/heard/seen every story ever told and never will.

Being middle-aged, though, I tend to be behind the times. My favorite novel is Dickens' David Copperfield, so you know from whence I come.

Still, I am redeemable. My friend Dawn recently suggested I read The Hunger Games trilogy, and I found each book amazing. I will blog about them soon. My mentioning them here is to let you know that I am open to suggestion, that I'm not hopelessly ensconced in the past.

My story for the blog today is a song. One that haunts me even as I write this. "Someone Like You" by Adele.

What a tale of heartbreak sung by someone on the outside looking back. And written by one too young to have known the depths of that kind of heartbreak, much less have the ability to express it as powerfully as she does.

Adele does all of that and more.

How many of us have lost a love and dreamed of finding someone exactly the same? Impossible, yes. But we can dream, can't we? The more than 98,000,000 YouTube viewers of a live version of "Someone Like You" at the BRIT 2011 can answer the question.

When she finishes the song, watch her. She becomes emotional and can't face the applause. She turns, instead, to her piano player.

To me, that is art at its finest.

To me, Adele is not one who sings so the light shines on her. She is one who sings to shine the light on others.